The Proquest Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive

http://www.proquest.com/en-US/catalogs/databases/detail/eima.shtml

And you ask why this deserves its own thread...well:

This new digital archive is sure to receive rave reviews from those wanting to know more about behind-the-scenes activities of the music, film, and entertainment industries. By providing the complete runs of major trade and consumer magazines, from their inception to 2000, it arms students and researchers with the primary source material needed to develop a contextual understanding of the entertainment industry as it evolved over the 20th century. It is ideal for scholars studying:

The economics of the entertainment industry
Production, marketing and reception of films or music albums
Factors surrounding the emergence of subcultures such as punk, two-tone or grunge
Culture, politics and social change in dynamic eras such as the 1960s
Each magazine can be browsed cover-to-cover in full-page, full-text format. Users are able to search for original reviews, interviews, industry news, listings, charts and features relating to the full range of popular media using advanced search and retrieval functionality.
Includes key trade and mass-market consumer magazines – weekly and monthly issues
Approximately 2.5 million pages digitized in high resolution color and fully searchable
Complete backfiles support analysis of trends in popular culture across the entire 20th century
Covers the entire entertainment industry, including film, television, popular music, radio, theatre, and performing arts, with a focus on the US and the UK
Cross-searchable with historical databases on the all-new ProQuest platform
Titles include:

American Film (US, 1975-1992)
Back Stage (US, 1960-2000)
Broadcasting / Broadcasting & Cable (US, 1931-2000)
Billboard (US, 1894-2000)
Boxoffice (US, 1920-2000)
Broadcast (UK, 1960-2000)
Contrast (UK, 1961-1965)
Disc (UK, 1958-1975)
Film Weekly (UK, 1928-1939)
Independent Film Journal / The Film Journal / Film Journal International (US, 1934-2000)
Melody Maker (UK, 1926-2000)
Mixmag (UK, 1983-2000)
Musician (US, 1976-1999)
Muzik (UK, 1995-2000)
NME (UK, 1946-2000)
Picturegoer (UK, 1911-1960)
Rave (UK, 1964-1970)
R&R / Radio & Records (US, 1973-2000)
Record Mirror (UK, 1976-1991)
Screen International (UK, 1975-2000)
Spin (US, 1985-2000)
The Beat (US, 1982-2000)
The Stage (UK, 1880-2000)
Uncut (UK, 1997-2000)
Variety (US, 1905-2000)
Vox (UK, 1990-1999)

This is essentially designed for and aimed at academic libraries and institutions. The point is, though, it exists.

WANT

Quite so.

Is that Mark E Smith peering out at the top of the brochure? [PDF link]
http://www.proquest.com/assets/literature/products/databases/eima.pdf

sure looks like it

I take it this will be subscription only. For anyone interested in dance/disco music, you have to check out James Hamilton's columns in Record Mirror.

For your free trial or more information

free trial....sounds tempting